There will be two in-class
examinations, one library assignment, and a comprehensive final examination.Each in class examination will be worth
30% (for a total of 60%), and the cumulative final examination will be worth
40% of the final grade.The
library assignment will be graded on a √, +, - basis and, although it does not
figure in to the numerical computation of your grade, completing the assignment
on time will be a necessary condition for passing the course. When making
travel arrangements for official Colby breaks or sports competitions, please
note class meetings, exam times and dates carefully.Exam dates and assignment due dates appear inbold face
on the syllabus. Daily attendance is expected.

The two in-class examinations
will take place in the evenings so as to give you ample time to complete
them.Please note the two dates
and times of the examinations.

EXAMINATION #1:Wednesday, October 18th,
2006, 7:00 p.m.

EXAMINATION #2: Monday,
Novemer 20th, 2006, 7:00 p.m.

NO MAKE-UP EXAMS will be
scheduled.Please notify me ASAP
if you have a class conflict with either of these exam dates and times.

IN CLASS

This is primarily a lecture
course due to the sheer volume of material that needs to be covered, its
general level of difficulty, and the size of the class.When possible, we will engage in
discussion.I expect everyone to
come to class every day prepared to respond when called upon.This course will get progressively more
difficult.It is imperative for
your own good that you keep up on daily readings, especially when we get to
Aristotle.You should attempt to
completed readings twice—once before lecture and once after.

PLAGIARISM

Plagiarism is the use of
ideas and expressions (or entire papers) not your own without appropriate
attribution.You must cite all sources: books, journals, television programs, films,
web sites, downloaded documents, lectures, correspondence, just to name some
ofthe most common examples.When in doubt, site your source.Consequences for plagiarizing will be
(a) failure of this course, (b) a report to the Dean of Students Office for
your academic record, and (c) suspension from Colby if this is your second
offense.Please see student
handbook and/or college catalogue for more details.

CELL
PHONES

Do not bring your cell phones
to class.Any student whose cell
phone rings during class will be asked to leave class for that day.

SCHEDULE

F. Sept 8Pre-Socratics: Read Ring, Chapter 5 pp. 40-58.Would you consider Pythagoras a
scientist, strictly speaking?How
does Pythagoras differ from Thales in what he is trying to accomplish?How might you explain the relationship
between the supernatural (mythical/religious) and the natural (scientific) for
Pythagoreans?

M. Sept 11Pre-Socratics: Read Ring, Chapter 6, pp. 59-81.What is philosophically significant
about Heraclitus' writing style?What is the role of logos in Heraclitus' thought.What is the connection between his
ideas on change and his ideas on unity?What are his views of fire, and how do they differ from predecessors who
spoke similarly of original matter?

W. Sept 13Pre-Socratics: Read Ring, Chapter 7, pp. 82-103.This is a bit more technical, and we
will go through things slowly.Why
do you suppose that Parmenides puts his ideas in the mouth of a goddess?What are the three ways of thinking
that P. is going to speak about?What are modal terms?What
are the three senses of "is" that the author discusses?What is wrong with the way we
ordinarily think, according to Parmenides?What exactly is the "contradiction" that occurs
when we think in the ordinary ways?

F. Sept 15Pre-Socratics: Read Ring, Chapter 8, pp. 104-118.What consequences follow from
Parmenides' philosophyof change
and unity?How do those ideas of
change and unity compare with Heraclitus' views on the same matter?What does it mean to say P's monism is
logical rather than cosmological?What in P's theory would seem to prevent him from developing a
cosmogony?In what way did
Parmenides' work redirect the philosophical movement?

M. Sept 18Pre-Socratics:Read
Ring, Chapter 11, pp. 152-154. What is a sophist?Explain how sophistry might have been an outgrowth of
Eleatic philosophy.What were the
objections to the professional sophists in Socrates' time?What are the moral and epistemic
concerns generated by sophists' teachings?Do we have any contemporary counterparts to the sophists?

W. Sept 20Introduction
to Plato.*****If you have not read the dialogues surrounding Socrates'
trial (Euthyphro, Crito, Apology),
you should do so; if you have read them, please review your class notes.Our discussions of Plato will assume a
working knowledge of these dialogues.Plato.Read Meno .What
do we learn about Meno's character in the early part of this dialogue?Is there a connection between his
character and the topic of discussion?What is the strongest meaning we can assign to Meno's challenge to
Socrates?What is going on with
the slave demonstration?What is
Meno supposed to be learning from his slave?In what way is the slave made better off by Socrates?What is Socrates' ultimate
justification for the theory of recollection?What is the difference between knowledge and true belief?

F. Sept 22Plato.Read Theaetetus up to 179d.What do we learn about Theaetetus' character?How or why is it significant that he is said to be like
Socrates?What are the
implications for the midwife metaphor?Does Socrates ever give live births?Does he want to?Who was Protagoras?Explain
Socrates' difficulty with the "man is the measure" doctrine.What do we learn about Theodorus'
character?What is the
significance of the many references to youth and old age in this dialogue?How is it connected to the
specific characters involved in conversation?

M. Sept 25Plato.Read Theaetetus 179d—end.What is Socrates saying about the problem of false statements?What is the epistemological problem
Socrates is trying to avoid in his criticisms of Protagoras' doctrine, "man
is the measure," and Heraclitus doctrine of flux, i.e., what consequences
do these doctrines have in common that Socrates wants to avoid?What is the significance of the
discussion about the philosopher versus the practical man of law?Why do you suppose this dialogue ends
without having answered the question, "What is knowledge?"

W. Sept 27Plato.Catch up on Meno & Theaetetus.

F. Sept 29Plato.Read Republic, Books I
and II [all, 327a-383c].What philosophical themes are
introduced by the dramatic action in Book I?How are the characters of the dramatic personae
philosophically relevant?What
values does Thrasymachus represent?Explain the significance of the story of Gyges' ring.What cultural influences lie behind
Glaucon's and Adeimantus's belief that unjust deeds are more profitable than
just deeds?What differentiates
the city of need from the luxurious city?

M. Oct 2Plato.Read Republic, Book V
[471c to end], Book VI [all,
484a-511d], Book VII [514a-
521c].What is the larger
significance of Glaucon's question whether the just city is possible?What sense can we make of having a
model?How is having a model
related to the discussion of beauty itself or justice itself?Explain the philosophical meaning of
the three images created by Plato: the ship of state, the sun, and the divided
line. What is the allegory of the cave supposed to show Glaucon and
Adeimantus?.What larger
implications might it have?

W. Oct 4Plato.Read Republic, Book IX
[589a-592b],and Book X [all, 595a-end].How would you evaluate Socrates' success in meeting the
challenge to show that justice is good for its own sake?What is the significance of the ending
of Book IX?What are the political
implications of Book X's censorship?How does the theme of imitation re-emerge here, and how might it be
relevant to the metaphysical view associated with the forms?What is the function of the myth of Er?

F. Oct 6Plato:Catch-up on Republic.

M. Oct 9Plato.Read Phaedo
up to 84db.What do you think Socrates means when he speaks of living
the philosophical life?What are the three arguments Socrates gives for the immortality of the
soul?What are Cebes' and Simmias'
objections to Socrates' arguments?Are Socrates' arguments persuasive?

W. Oct 11Plato.Read Phaedo 84b-end.How does Socrates respond to the objections of his friends?What kind of characters are Cebes and
Simmias?How do they compare to
Euthyphro, for example? What dramatic and philosophical role does fear play in
this dialogue?What are the "causes"
to which Socrates refers and in what manner are they causes?What type of metaphysics emerges from
this dialogue?What view of
philosophy emerges from this dialogue?

F. Oct 20Introduction
to Aristotle.What is natural
philosophy?What is teleology?
What is significant about Aristotle's approach to philosophy regarding the
nature of things?

M. Oct 23Aristotle.Read
text, Physics, Book II. How is
Aristotle using the term, "cause"?What are the four causes--material, formal, efficient, and
final?Can you explain each and
give examples?What marks the
final cause as particularly important?What is Aristotle's concern in his discussions of chance, spontaneity,
and necessity?What does all of
this have to do with creating a "science" of something?

W. Oct 25Aristotle.Read
text Metaphysics Books I, II.What is an empiricist?In what way is Aristotle's method
empirical and his inferences empiricist?What is the hierarchy Aristotle sets up among the various kinds of "knowing"?What does he say of earlier attempts at
understanding causation?What are
Aristotle's criticisms of the theory of ideas or forms?Explain Aristotle's point regarding the
various degrees of rigor in each science.

F. Oct 27Aristotle.Read
text, Metaphysics Book IV.How does Aristotle distinguish
metaphysics from other inquiries?What does he mean by first principles?What are the law of non-contradiction and the law of
excluded middle, and why is Aristotle so concerned about them?Can you see the problem of relativism
to which he refers?How do the
distinctions between substance/accident and potential/actual help Aristotle
solve the problem of relativism?Do you see a connection to Plato's concerns in Theaetetus?Do you
see a connection to concerns about the nature of change that existed since the
pre-Socratics?

M. Oct 30Aristotle.Read
text, Metaphysics, Book XII, Chs.
1, 6, 7, 9, 10. What is the argument Aristotle makes about the unmoved
mover?What metaphysical
significance does it have?Which
categories among the four causes does the unmoved mover fall into?Explain.

W. Nov 1Aristotle:Catch-up on Physics & Metaphysics

F. Nov 3Aristotle.Read
text, Ethics, Books I, II.What is Aristotle's procedural method
in this work?What is the general
connection Aristotle implies exists between politics and ethics?What is the highest good for humans?What is the function of humans?Using the notion of virtue,
explain the difference between carrying out one's function and carrying out one's
function well.Do you see the connection to his
earlier discussion of the four causes?What is the key ingredient in Aristotle's view in Book II of becoming
virtuous?How does this differ
significantly from what we know about the Socratic view of becoming
virtuous?Explain how the doctrine
of the "mean relative to us" is not a kind of ethical relativism.

M. Nov 6Aristotle.Read
text, Ethics, Books III, IV.What does Aristotle count as a
voluntary action?Why is it
important for any ethical theory to establish this distinction?Explain why it is consistent with other
things Aristotle has said that he takes time to point out the gray area between
voluntary and involuntary.What is
your general impression of Aristotle's discussion of the many particular
virtues?How does the great-souled
person differ from our own cultural ideals?LIBRARY assignment
due today in class.

W. Nov 8Aristotle. Read text, Ethics, Book VII.What is Aristotle's account of weakness of will?In the end, does it differ
significantly from what Socrates presents regarding this same matter in the Meno?If
similar, how might Aristotle consider his presentation of the problem here an
improvement over the Socratic view of it?

F. Nov 10Aristotle:Catch up on Ethics.

M. Nov 13Aristotle.Read
text, Ethics, Book X.What does Aristotle say about pleasure?What is Aristotle's conclusion
regarding the happy life for man?Does Book X seem consistent with the rest of the Ethics?Taking
an overall view, how does Aristotle's philosophy compare with what we read in
Plato's dialogues?

W. Nov 15Aristotle.Read
text, Poetics.Explain the difference between tragedy
and comedy.In what way is theater
natural, according to Aristotle?What ought good tragedy strive to achieve in its viewers?Do you see yet another manifestation of
Aristotle's methodology in this work?Do you see how the four causes are relevant to the Poetics?

F. Nov 17Aristotle. We will discuss "Mystic River," a film by
Clint Eastwood.What aspects of
this film, if any, fit Aristotle's description of tragedy?What aspects, if any, are inconsistent
with Aristotle's conception of tragicpoetry?What might be the
emotional reactions of an audience of this film?Are those reactions consistent with what Aristotle says
about the function and telos of tragedy?Do you think we are more culturally the same or different from the
Greeks in the creation of our dramatic art forms and the cultural role they
play?

M. Nov 20Aristotle. Catch-up.Exam #2 tonight

W. Nov 22Thanksgiving Break.

F. Nov 24Thanksgiving Break.

M. Nov 27Epicureans.Read
Inwood: Biography, Letter to Herodotus, and Letter to Menoeceus, (pp. 3-19 and
28-31; also read last ¶ of the section that ends on p. 28.).What is the starting point for human
knowledge according to Epicurus?Explain Epicurus' atomism.What is ataraxia?How is
ataraxia related to the study of physics?What should our attitude toward death be?Why?What is
the goal of the blessed life?Can
you reconcile the apparent inconsistency between his lifestyle (hedonism) and
his philosophy (asceticism)?

W. Nov 29Epicureans.Read
Inwood: Principal Doctrines, Sayings, Reports, and part of Cicero's testimony,
pp. 32-56.Can you explain the
maxims and sayings in light of what you already know about Epicurus'
philosophy?What is the
distinction E. is making between the intellect and the flesh?What is Epicurus' view of necessity and
fate?Explain "the swerve"
and Cicero's criticism of it.

F.Dec 1Catch
up on Epicureans

M. Dec 4Skeptics.Academics and Pyrrhonists.Read Inwood, , pp.261-297; 300-302
[III-1 through III-22; III-25].What do the academic skeptics say regarding a criterion of truth and
what reasons do they give for the withholding of assent?What was Pyrrho trying to achieve by
his way of life?What are the ten
modes?Is there an ethical
aspect to ancient skepticism?

THE
CUMULATIVE FINAL EXAMINATION (40%)will take place on this course's
scheduled exam day.Currently,
this course is in exam slot 1, which is likely to be on the morning of
Wednesday, December 13th, 2006